The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is reporting that both the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) and the National Water Commission (NWC) owe $47 million in compensation to customers due to breaches of the guaranteed standards laid out by the OUR.

The guaranteed standards are a set of provisions negotiated with the utility companies by the OUR on behalf of their customers, to ensure a minimum level of service from utility providers.

Breaches

In a statement to the media, the OUR said the latest quarterly report shows that the JPS had committed 16,000 breaches of the provisions for the quarter ending March 2007. As such, the utility company owed customers some $33 million in reimbursement, while the NWC committed approximately 14,000 breaches for the quarter ending December 2006, owing its customers $14 million in compensation.

So far, JPS has paid out only $100,000 in compensation, the OUR said, while the NWC has paid out none, because of the extremely low number of claims to the companies.

"Traditionally, the number of claims have been extremely low, despite public education efforts by the OUR and periodic promotions by the utility companies," the statement read.